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From: chap@art-sy.detroit.mi.us (j chapman flack)
Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent
Subject: Re: NEW USER
Message-ID: <9106151041.aa05938@art-sy.detroit.mi.us>
Date: 15 Jun 91 14:41:45 GMT
References: <1991Jun6.041604.7361@ncep1.uucp>
            <1991Jun9.175218.756@unixland.natick.ma.us>
Reply-To: chap@art-sy.detroit.mi.us (j chapman flack)
Organization: Appropriate Roles for Technology
Lines: 35

In article <1991Jun9.175218.756@unixland.natick.ma.us> bill@unixland.natick.ma.us (Bill Heiser) writes:
>In article <1991Jun6.041604.7361@ncep1.uucp> n931a@pnet16.cts.com (Et1 Ryan) writes:
>>        Having purchased COHERENT only about a week ago, and experienced
>[text deleted]
>>                  and just can't see the advantages of this program over a
>>MSDOS multitasking system.  Perhaps some advice on the easiest way to learn
>
>operating systeem.  Regardless of what "multi-tasking" layers you add
>to DOS (such as DESQview, Windows, etc), DOS is STILL a SINGLE-USER 
>OS.    UNIX, on the other hand, is a MULTI-USER Operating System.  If

Two more cents' worth:  DOS is an UNPROTECTED operating system.  It does not
enforce the separation of tasks' address spaces.  This is why one faulty
program can crash the system, your TSR's can mess up your other programs, etc.
Most people just live with this when single-tasking with DOS.  If you add
something like DESQview and start multitasking, things get more interesting.
It is entirely possible for task A to make a bad memory reference that
overwrites something in task B's address space, which doesn't cause a problem
until you use a particular function in task B an hour later, at which point
task C gets modified and visibly fails.  These problems can take WEEKS to
trace, and are pretty much non-issues in UNIX (or VMS, or your-OS-here).

DESQview/386 provides several levels of hardware-supported protection; these
are disabled by default, though, and are of limited use because they break a
lot of commercial DOS software, much of which is written on the assumption
that it can get away with anything.

I'm not slamming DESQview--I found it to be the all-around dad-blast neatest
thing that ever happened to DOS, but it's severely limited by the underlying
nonoperating system.
-- 
Chap Flack                         Their tanks will rust.  Our songs will last.
chap@art-sy.detroit.mi.us                                    -MIKHS 0EODWPAKHS

Nothing I say represents Appropriate Roles for Technology unless I say it does.